Wednesday, September 19, 2012

CEBADA WITH 14TH C RECIPE FOR HORDIATE, A BARKEY DRINK

OCast ceuada, cevada, ordio, Arag hordio, OCat hordi, Cat ordi, L. hordeum, Ar. sha‘īr, Eng. barley. This is a bread grain producing dark flour. It was used to make bread in areas where wheat was scarce and to make couscous grains and porridge. It does not produce porous bread because it contains little gluten. It was used to make unleavened or flatbread. It was considered a poor man’s bread but Avenzoar claimed it to be the best after wheat as he thought it cold but not as nutritious. He recommended baking it under ashes instead of in a tannur oven. It could be boiled in water and served as porridge. Mixed with water and honey it served as a refreshing drink. Since 5000 B.C., barley has been cultivated in Egypt and it is known to have been in Europe by 3000 B.C. There are two species: vulgare or irregulare (common barley)and distichum (pearl barley). Flowers growing on spikes become barley kernels, which are covered by bran and a husk. It is an adaptable plant that grows well in hot arid lands as well as cool wetlands. See hordiate and horchata. [Anón/Grewe. 1982:LXXXXVII:129:ftn 2:LXXXXVIII:129: Apè III:239; Bercero/Janer. 1983:307; Ency Brit. 1998:1:A:900:3b-901:1a; Nola.1989:xxxiii-2:xxxv-3:xl-5; Nola/Iranzo. 1982:170; and Nola/Pérez. 1994:199]

Boil water in a saucepan. Add almonds when boiling and remove from heat. Let stand for 2-3 minutes and peel them. Grind almonds. Add 2 cbroth and continue grinding. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth into a large saucepan. Add 6 c broth and barley. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and boil gently 15-20 minutes until grains burst. Add salt to taste.

Barley Water with a Lemon Twist Photo by: Lord-Williams

Pour the mixture into a food processor and grind 1-2 minutes. Pour this through a sieve into a bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice if desired[2]. When cool bottle and store in the refrigerator.
_______________________[1]Sent Sovídoes not call for lemon. The juice and zest give the drink a nice twist.
[2] Save the barley in the sieve and make porridge by heating with milk and adding brown sugar or honey.

3 comments:

This is a classic of Spanish summer, only I'm not too sure about the bouillon. There should be two different drinks:1) horchata (the root coming clearly from hordeum), with white, milky consistency. It is still found today, in the last years even in supermarkets. But it is made not of barley but of "chufa", (Cyperus esculentus), which is really a root and not a seed, as the round shape could make believe.2) agua de cebada (barley water): this I have only heard of from my grandma and in zarzuela and literature. It was sold in kiosks during the summer and I have not idea how it looked (something like clear tea it seems).

From one corner of Europe to another: you suggest using the remanent barley for a porridge. I suggest using it also for a soup. Paearl barley soups are completely unknow in Spain nowadays (I don't know if they were in the Middle Ages), but they are rather common in center and Eastern Europe and Russia, where they mix it with vegetables, mushrooms, bacon, ecc.

According to Wikipedia, bouillon cubes were not commercialized until 1908 by Maggi and 1910 by Oxo. This ingredient, therefore, has been eliminated from this recipe and all other recipes in this blog. "Horchata" with a recipe for making it will be published in this blog in due time. "Avenate," an oat caudle or gruel was published on 28 Dec 11 with Nola's 15th C recipe for it.Using the word "soup" for medieval porridges, soppes and gruels is not quite right as the latter were quite thick. These items were common in Asturias and other areas in northern Spain especially while the drinks were common among those working in the fields in Extremadura, Madrid and Andalusia.

Also at this site is a blog "almendrada" published on 12 Aug 11 with a recipe for this adapted from Pérez' addition to Nola recipes. "Almendrada" is also called "Horchata de Amendras," which in English is an almond drink.

About Me

After becoming an avid researcher in college, I continued to dig up historical information from the National Library of Spain in Madrid during the decades that I lived there. Suddenly, I realized I had a large notebook/dictionary of words I did not comprehend in Old Spanish from readings of medieval classics like the Archipreste of Hita, Don Quixote etc.
While organizing this information it occurred to me to present the word that pertained to medieval cookery and a medieval recipe that has something to do with the word. taken from medieval manuscripts.
Each week I prepare three words with pertinent recipes and after trying the recipe, I share it these with you so that you cannot only learn about the etymology of the word but you can try the recipe too!
Beside the Medieval Spanish Chef Blog, I am a Airbnb hostess. See pictures of the room I rent out at the airbnb website under "The Most Magical Views of Santiago" (Chile): http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3184757